Asking venture capitalists for investment is a rite of passage for tech founders. However, this process often leads to another universal experience: the VC pitching horror story. A massive conversation sharing such stories has taken place on X with the comments both funny and infuriating.
We read through them all to find the most interesting ones so you don’t have to.
VCs Falling Asleep During Pitch Meetings
The most common horror story shared was that of VCs falling asleep during pitch meetings. Not just drowsing, but full on zonked. Zynga founder Mark Pincus told his VC-asleep story.
“I looked at my friend who set up the meeting and asked if i should keep presenting and she said yes. It was ‘weekend at bernies’ meets Silicon Valley,” he wrote.
Interestingly, falling asleep didn’t mean the VC wouldn’t invest. Multiple founders reported receiving term sheets from partners who’d dozed off during the pitch.
Ghosting and Bad Behavior
There were so many stories about VCs ghosting or showing bad behavior after agreeing to invest. Former a16z partner Arianna Simpson wrote, “Are VCs ok?? Narcolepsy appears to be running rampant.”
The even more galling part? Some of these VCs apparently went on to treat the founders like portfolio companies anyway, asking for company updates or to serve as a reference.
Sexist Comments and Bad Behavior from Prominent Investors
Cloudflare founder Matthew Prince shared two stunning stories about prominent investors. A Sequoia partner passed on Cloudflare because he didn’t think a woman could lead a security infrastructure company. Given that Cloudflare is now an $87 billion market cap company, the judgment hasn’t aged well.
Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire replied that he’s always admired Zatlyn, and asked Prince to spill the name of the partner who said that. Prince punted, “Maybe over a drink one day. But I bet you have a good guess already.”
Prince also shared a story about Vinod Khosla offering to invest and then suggesting that the founder “fire” his co-founders and take their stock.
Conclusion
It’s worth noting that recollections of conversations tend to vary, and we don’t know what Khosla actually said, meant, or remembers. However, Prince’s candor sparked a conversation about having “FU” money and being able to call out bad behavior from VCs.
Not all of Prince’s stories cast VCs as the villains. Specifically, he thought he had lined up a simple meet-and-greet on a Monday with Marc Andreessen, the cofounder of venture firm a16z. Instead, Andreessen showed up with his whole investment team, ready to be wowed.
The ill-prepared Prince did not impress.
“I framed the rejection letter they sent,” he said of the result.
Others told similar stories of meetings with Andreessen and his firm.
Source: Original article